Popularity Contest

Sheree North in How to Be Very, Very Popular (20th Century Fox, 1955)

"Sheree North, going great guns, is signed, sealed, and will be delivered for the starring role in Garson Kanin's Do Re Mi, a rock and roll racketeering story with racketeers trying to muscle into the music business. Frank Tashlin will produce and direct for 20th Century..." -- Hedda Hopper's column, July 12, 1956

"When you get some good comedy situations in a picture, you're glad you're in it. I don't have the comedy in my latest...but I do in the next, Do Re Mi...when I read the story, I never dreamed I'd get to do it!" -- Sheree North in Aline Mosby's column, August 20, 1956



Jayne Mansfield in The Girl Can't Help It [originally announced as Do Re Mi] (20th Century Fox, 1956)

"[Sheree North] is a very competent little actress. We don't compete for the same parts." -- Jayne Mansfield to columnist Aline Mosby, September 20, 1956

Jayne Mansfield in It Happened in Athens (20th Century Fox, 1962)

Jayne Mansfield publicity photo for Hell on Frisco Bay (Warner Bros., 1955)

"Oh, I couldn't be happier! [20th Century Fox] is so nice...Frank Tashlin said he had to have me for Do Re Mi...so [Fox] bought the play [Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?] and got me out of [my Broadway contract], and here I am!" -- Jayne Mansfield to columnist Bob Thomas, September 26, 1956

Sheree North in How to Be Very, Very Popular (20th Century Fox, 1955)

Jayne Mansfield in The Girl Can't Help It (20th Century Fox, 1956)

Wayward Hayward

Ray Danton and Susan Hayward in I'll Cry Tomorrow (MGM, 1955)

"Inside reason for Susan Hayward nixing Hilda Crane as her next movie: too similar to I'll Cry Tomorrow. Jean Simmons will play the role instead..." -- Erksine Johnson's column, January 7, 1956

Guy Madison and Jean Simmons in Hilda Crane (20th Century Fox, 1956)

"The Hilda Crane currently in release is a movie nixed by Susan Hayward at Fox. The Cannes Award winner will be seen next in The Wayward Bus." -- Erksine Johnson's column, June 15, 1956

"Susan Hayward is tipping the bottle again on the silver screen...This time, it's for The Wayward Bus, to be produced by 20th Century Fox from the John Steinbeck novel." -- Bill Crawford's column, June 17, 1956

Rick Jason and Joan Collins in The Wayward Bus (20th Century Fox, 1957)

"Susan Hayward is on a sweetness-and-light-plus-fun kick as far as her next movie assignment is concerned. She's definitely said no to The Wayward Bus and The Three Faces of Eve -- both on the morbid side. A bubbly musical may draw a "yes, indeedy" from Susan..." -- Erksine Johnson's column, July 27, 1956

"It is no secret that Susan Hayward is the star who would like to 'wash that man right outta my hair'..." -- The New York Times, October 6, 1956

Mitzi Gaynor and Rossano Brazzi in South Pacific (20th Century Fox, 1958)

Susie may not have gotten to clinch with Guy, Rick, or Rossano, but Ray and John aren't such bad consolation prizes.

John Gavin and Susan Hayward in Back Street (Universal-International, 1961)

Murder, She Wrote

Lana Turner at the coroner's inquest into the death of Johnny Stompanato, April 11, 1958

"After an argument, her agent notified me that she was withdrawing from [Anatomy of a Murder]. I can't see why there should be any argument over what an army officer's wife would wear. I'll get an unknown, and make her a new Lana Turner!" -- Otto Preminger, March 3, 1959

Lee Remick in Anatomy of a Murder (Columbia, 1959)

"I would not walk out of a picture for anything as trivial as a costume. It was simply impossible to deal with Mr. Preminger's unpredictable temper." -- Lana Turner, March 3, 1959

"Everybody's agent (from Gina Lollobrigida's to Susan Hayward's to Tina Louise's) has asked for the Lana Turner-vacated role in Anatomy of a Murder..." -- Earl Wilson's column, March 10, 1959

Gina Lollobrigida in Where the Hot Wind Blows (MGM, 1960)

Susan Hayward in I Want to Live! (MGM, 1958)

Tina Louise in God's Little Acre (United Artists, 1958)

Lee Remick in Anatomy of a Murder (Columbia, 1959)

“Nobody is going to yell at me like that…Otto called and immediately started to abuse me. He yelled, ‘I’ll show you that this isn’t Universal or MGM! You’ll do and wear exactly as I say!’…I’m not going to take that kind of shouting from anybody. Thank God, I’m not that hungry.” -- Lana Turner, March 14, 1959

"Last month, Lana had a tiff with Otto Preminger over costumes for Anatomy of a Murder, and walked out of the movie. A lot of folks said about her replacement, 'Who's Lee Remick?'" -- Bob Thomas' column, April 17, 1959

"I'm simply not the glamour girl type. I would be uncomfortable trying to fit into a studio's conception of what a movie star is supposed to be...I suppose it was different years ago, when studios took people with no experience and made them into screen personalities." -- Lee Remick to Bob Thomas, April 17, 1959

"I thank God neither I nor any of my family will ever be so hard up as to have to work for Otto Preminger." -- Lana Turner

The Show Must Go On

Lucille Ball in Ziegfeld Follies (MGM, 1945)

"I'm so anxious to be in [The Greatest Show on Earth], I'd practically stick my head in one of the elephants' mouths." -- Lucille Ball to Hedda Hopper, November 27, 1950

"Lucille Ball last week joined the 'parade of stars' Cecil B. DeMille is lining up for his circus picture, The Greatest Show on Earth. The red-haired beauty gets a choice spot in the film, that of Angel, the elephant girl..." -- "In Hollywood" column, December 10, 1950

Lucille Ball in Meet the People (MGM, 1944)

"Before she hits the sawdust trail, Lucille will co-star with John Agar in The Magic Carpet for Columbia. [Lucille says,] 'What's it about? A magic carpet, I guess. I do think this is the kind of script they break contracts over, but I never fight. I never got anywhere by fighting. I always do what I'm told to do.'" -- "In Hollywood" column, December 12, 1950

Lucille Ball in The Magic Carpet (Columbia, 1951)

"Lucille Ball has informed Cecil B. DeMille that imminent motherhood will prevent her from appearing in his movie about the Ringling Bros. circus...Paulette Goddard will replace Miss Ball in the film..." -- Leonard Lyons' column, December 29, 1950

Paulette Goddard and Richard Ney in Babes in Bagdad (United Artists, 1952)

"Gloria Grahame was signed recently to complete the bracket of seven stars for Cecil B. DeMille's The Greatest Show on Earth...Miss Grahame will portray the role of the elephant girl from which Lucille Ball recently withdrew because of impending motherhood." -- "In Hollywood" column, February 4, 1951

Gloria Grahame in The Greatest Show on Earth (Paramount, 1952)

"CBS is really plunging into TV...new Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz [series] being prepped for...fall showing..." -- Edith Gwynn's column, February 24, 1951

Lucille Ball in I Love Lucy ("Lucy Gets into Pictures," Season 4, Episode 18, originally aired February 21, 1955)

Kerr Trouble

"Rumors are flying thick and fast about who will play in From Here to Eternity...I can tell you that Burt Lancaster is deep in negotiations to co-star with Montgomery Clift, and Joan Crawford is about to put her name on a contract." -- Louella Parsons' column, January 13, 1953 

"Of all surprises: Deborah Kerr, who usually plays teacup-and-lifted-pinkie ladies, gets the super-sexy role of the captain's wife in From Here to Eternity." -- Louella Parsons' column, January 18, 1953

Deborah Kerr in From Here to Eternity (Columbia, 1953)

"Joan Crawford offered to do anything short of scrubbing the sound stages to snag the role of the officer's wife in From Here to Eternity, but the studio decided...she was a couple of years too old for the part." -- Erksine Johnson's column, February 24, 1953

"Joan had signed on for a major role in From Here to Eternity, even though director Fred Zinneman didn't want to use her. Her chief defender in this project was Columbia Pictures studio boss Harry Cohn. But even Cohn turned against Joan when she made it known that she hated her wardrobe for Eternity and demanded that her personal designer, Sheila O'Brien, be assigned to the picture." -- Lawrence J. Quirk, "Joan Crawford: The Essential Biography" (2002)

Joan Crawford in a Sheila O'Brien gown for Harriet Craig (Columbia, 1950)

"Joan Crawford's going back to glamour. Oscar-winner Helen Rose and fur designer Al Teitelbaum are collaborating on the mink and ermine creations she'll wear in MGM's Torch Song." -- Erksine Johnson's column, May 1, 1953

If she could turn back time: Joan Crawford on the set of Torch Song (MGM, 1953)

"I never go outside unless I look like 'Joan Crawford, the Movie Star.' If you want the girl next door, go next door!" -- Joan Crawford

Joan Crawford by Richard Avedon for Blackglama's "What Becomes a Legend Most?" campaign, 1969

Over The Edge

"I'm a song and dance girl. I can act enough to get by. But that's the limit of my talents." -- Betty Grable, turning down the meaty role of the doomed, drunken Sophie in The Razor's Edge (1946), for which Anne Baxter eventually won an Oscar

Anne Baxter in The Razor's Edge (20th Century Fox, 1946)

"I'm an actress, not a personality. It's more successful to be a personality." -- Anne Baxter

Anne Baxter in Carnival Story (RKO, 1954)

"Are you kidding? Fans would expect me to rise up out of the water with lily pads in my hair, singing 'Hooray for Hollywood.'" -- Betty Grable, referring to Sophie's dipsomaniacal demise at the bottom of the Seine in The Razor's Edge

Betty Grable in Three for the Show (Columbia, 1955)

Role Play

Today, we're inaugurating a series of posts which take some quick peeks into "what might have been" -- the stars who were originally intended for some of our favorite films. These posts are tailor-made for lots of commentary and fun hypothesizing, so we encourage audience participation (and also welcome suggestions for future posts)! Have fun, darlings!

Paulette Goddard in Reap the Wild Wind (Paramount, 1942)

"The longest and most extensive search for a screen heroine ended today when Paulette Goddard was signed to a long term contract by David O. Selznick, producer of Gone with the Wind..." -- Louella Parsons' column, February 3, 1938

"Who's going to play Scarlett in Gone with the Wind? Paulette Goddard, and worry no more about it..." -- Buck Herzog's column, December 4, 1938

"Vivien Leigh, the young English actress who will play Scarlett O'Hara in the screen dramatization of Gone with the Wind, was 'terribly nervous'...but at the same time 'grateful beyond words.'" -- Associated Press, January 15, 1939

Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind (Selznick International/MGM, 1939)

Blind Item

From Earl Wilson's column, February 4, 1966: "The feud on the picture, The Group, started when there were only two make-up women for eight stars. One young gal said, 'Let _______ go first, because she's the oldest and will take the longest time.' After that, it got worse."

Sincerely Yours

Monique Van Vooren: "You know, Mamie Van Doren is very pretty."

 

Friend: "You don't mean that!"

 

Monique Van Vooren: "No, I don't."

No Reservations

"She isn't red-faced with a hatchet nose like most American Indians...Maybe she is a Venezuelan Indian. You see, I don't know her very well." -- Maria Montez on Acquanetta

The Sincerest Form Of Flattery

"Get that two-bit whore outta here!" -- Jil Jarmyn doing her best Susan Hayward impersonation, upon catching Hayward in bed with her fiancé, Don "Red" Barry

Plays Well With Others

"Ava, I grew up in Brooklyn with Murder Incorporated as my playmates...Ava, you know I mean it." -- Shelley Winters confronting Ava Gardner over the latter's affair with her husband, Tony Franciosa

Cold As Ice

"When they invited me to the premiere, I sent off a 200 word telegram telling why I wouldn't attend -- and I sent it collect!" -- Carol Channing on losing the film version of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) to Marilyn Monroe

The Eternal Question

"Take away the pop-eyes, the cigarette, and those funny clipped words and what have you got?" -- Joan Crawford on Bette Davis